Overlook residents work to make proposed no-parking apartments fit the neighborhood

View full sizeGary Davenport, Kevin Campbell and Thomas Morris look over the Overlook bluff adjacent to the future home of a 68-unit apartment complex.Casey Parks/The Oregonian

Overlook residents watched as other neighborhood groups tried,
and failed, to prevent developers from building apartment complexes
without parking. So when a developer proposed a similar 68-unit,
no-parking complex in Overlook, the locals figured they had no shot,
either.

It's coming, they conceded. So instead they are asking -- what can we do to make the development fit the neighborhood?

A group of residents has drafted a detailed, footnoted plan, asking
the developer to reserve 20 percent of the apartments for handicapped
residents, another section for families. The development would bring a
slew of new cars to Overlook's narrow streets, but that way, residents
say, it would at least serve a public good. And maybe as they age they
could move into the apartments, staying in the neighborhood some have
lived in for decades.

"We thought we could at least benefit a larger community," said
Kevin Campbell, a filmmaker who has lived on North Massachusetts Avenue
for 15 years. "We did the most idealistic thing any neighborhood has
done, and it was very hard for us."

So far they have no idea if their plan will work.

The blocks around Overlook Park hold a tight-knit group of
neighbors. Many came to the neighborhood for its turn-of-the-century
Craftsman homes, but they stayed because of the community. They take
nightly walks together, hold barbecues in the adjacent park in the
summer. They wave as the 70-year-old nurse bikes away to Emanuel
Hospital each morning. They discuss Campbell's latest film, "The
Imaginals," in their yards.

View full sizeEverett Custom Homes paid nearly half a million dollars for this 1913 home on North Overlook Boulevard. The developer will tear down the house and the one next door to build a 68-unit apartment complex. Casey Parks/The Oregonian

Sure, when Wally Remmers' Everett Custom Homes paid nearly $1
million for two homes and announced plans for the Overlook Park
Apartments last summer, neighbors first worried about their streets. A
city planning bureau report suggested 70 percent of the new tenants
would own cars. Overlook's narrow roads couldn't take on 50 new cars,
neighbors thought.

At the meeting's end, a few Overlook residents gathered at the back
of Kaiser Town Hall. Angry residents in Richmond, Kerns and
Beaumont-Wilshire had protested in vain against similar developments,
they admitted, so let's try something different.

That's how they struck on their plan. They decided that what
matters most is the character of the neighborhood, not the number of
parking spots. They worried the size of the proposed apartments would
attract only 20-something transplants, temporary tenants arriving in
Portland for a chance in the country's coolest scene.

According to initial plans, 30 percent of the Overlook Park
Apartments would be 385-square-foot studios. Most of the units -- 60
percent -- will be one-bedrooms that range from 525 to 650 square feet.
Another 10 percent would be two-bedrooms, ranging from 750 to 775 square
feet.

With modifications, residents thought, the Overlook Park Apartments could benefit the community.

Thomas Morris, a former Portland State University constitutional
law professor, is 74 now. Parkinson's disease has left him unable to mow
the lawn as he used to. But he's lived on Massachusetts for 30 years.
He wants to spend the rest of his days in Overlook. If the new
apartments had space for aging residents like him, he thought, maybe he
could downsize but stay near his neighbors.

"We strongly believe that city government, land developers and
neighborhoods can work together in good faith to mutually design new
transit-oriented solutions that not only meet the inherent goals of all
parties involved, but create something remarkable," 20-year resident
Gary Davenport wrote.

They sent the letter to Remmers, the architect and the Portland
City Council. The architect replied, said the letter was thoughtful and
practical. Some of the apartments would be handicapped-adaptable, he
said, meaning if a handicapped resident moved in, modifications could be
made.

But he didn't agree to market the apartments as handicapped or
family-oriented. He didn't agree to add more two-bedrooms -- research shows there's no market for more, Sowieja wrote. And Remmers
didn't agree to meet the residents.

At the meeting, Davenport said he was enthused by the response. But
his group felt less hopeful about its proposal. They had imagined their
letter would be a template for other neighborhoods, that they could
find good in the construction. Remmers hadn't replied.